Peter Johnson
Chief Technology Officer (founder) at Geocode Earth
Berlin, Germany
Summary
🤩
RockstarPeter Johnson is a seasoned software architect and founder with 15 years of experience, currently serving as CTO of Geocode Earth in Berlin where he commercializes the open-source Pelias geocoder. Since 2014 he has led design and engineering of information retrieval and geocoding systems used by transit agencies, local governments, and businesses to deliver high-quality location experiences. As the creator and core maintainer of Pelias, he combines hands-on backend, DevOps and test automation expertise—improving API caching, autocomplete, and Docker infrastructure—to keep global geodata accurate and accessible. He is a committed open-data advocate who built a SaaS model to let small teams avoid infrastructure overhead while preserving privacy-friendly, non-proprietary tooling. Known for practical engineering and public speaking, he balances technical leadership with active community stewardship and a knack for turning complex spatial problems into reliable production services. Outside work he’s a Kiwi father who’s quietly spent years building some of the most widely used open geocoding components on GitHub.
15 years of coding experience
Stackoverflow
2,673reputation
2.6mreached
17answers
0questions
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Github Skills (40)
unit-testing10
javascript10
docker10
apidoc10
scripting10
testing10
amazon-elasticsearch10
dockers10
elasticsearchquery10
script10
api10
aws-elasticsearch10
sh10
elasticsearch10
nodejs10
Programming languages (30)
Github contributions (5)
pelias/api
Sep 2014 - Nov 2022
HTTP API for Pelias Geocoder
Role in this project:
Back-end & Test Automation Engineer
Back-end & Test Automation EngineerContributions:76 reviews, 693 commits, 373 PRs in 8 years 3 months
Contributions summary:Peter primarily contributed to improving the Pelias Geocoder API. Their work involved adding and refining test suites for both functional and unit testing purposes. The user also made improvements to the API's caching strategy by implementing cache control headers and addressed issues in various areas such as input sanitization. They also introduced and worked on features for auto-complete and search functionality.
geocoderpeliasgeocoding
pelias/docker
Jun 2018 - Jan 2022
Run the Pelias geocoder in docker containers, including example projects.
Role in this project:DevOps Engineer
DevOps EngineerContributions:30 reviews, 69 commits, 90 PRs in 3 years 8 months
Contributions summary:Peter's contributions primarily focused on improving the project's infrastructure and testing capabilities. They added an acceptance test runner, introduced new Elasticsearch commands, and fixed issues related to Elasticsearch startup. The user also addressed buffering problems in preparation and download scripts. These commits indicate a focus on ensuring the smooth operation and maintainability of the Pelias geocoder within the Docker environment.
docker-containergeocoderpelias
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